July Assassination #3

Absolutely amazing game. The 26 hours I spent with it flew by. I'm not usually a fan of visual novels, but when games like Persona or Murder By Numbers are able to integrate interesting VN scenarios with compelling mechanics, I become a sucker for them.

The music is absolutely stellar. It seems the composer is well known for other famous series such as Phoenix Wright, Viewtiful Joe, and Ghost Trick, and the soundtrack here rocks without mercy. The artstyle is consistent and generally well done, committed to the style. Writing is okay, there's a lot of text and it's generally easy to follow and doesn't get too grating, imbuing characters with a lot of personality. Where it slips a bit is in areas where the plot starts to go all over the place -- I feel the fourth case dragged a bit and it was easy to get lost on what was going on.

Nono-wise, most of the game is 15x15 nonos which are usually challenging and time-consuming but not overbearing. Sometimes you'll see a 10x15 or 20x15 but those are uncommon. There are also quick-time nonos which are always 5x5 and don't allow for 'skips', which is an interesting twist that is not used a lot of times. The hint system is really good and generous, but you absolutely don't need to use it or use guesses at any point.

All in all, if you like nonos, this is a good coat of paint on top of the base puzzle. Maybe you already own it on EGS for free, so give it a go while we wait for Rosiminc to get back into our lives :)